News, reports, speeches, and more from Barr staff, Fellows, grantees, and others to illustrate the challenges we are focused on and what we are learning.
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Celebrating a Disruptive Innovation in the Heart of Boston
Posted by Mariella PuertoIn early spring, Barr Senior Program Officer Mariella Puerto was invited to speak at a 10th anniversary celebration for the Boston Nature Center - a project she had been involved with from its earliest days. In her remarks, she recounts BNC's story of disruptive innovation that catalyzed big change in two very complex and (in different ways) stuck systems.
Date Posted: April 08, 2013 | Categories: Barr Grantees, Presentations & Speeches
Topics: boston nature center, boston public schools, disruptive innovation, environmental education, green design, mass audu, systems thinking -
The science and social science of climate change
Posted by Pat BrandesFor foundations and others working on climate change, we pay a lot of attention to the science. Yet, climate change is also a powerful force in the social sciences, amplifying disparities between the haves and the have-nots – as was made plain in the recent aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. To better understand why this is the case and what it may take to change these dynamics, Barr, together with the Funders Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities, invited dr. john a powell to speak with grantees, foundation staff, and other colleagues. Pat Brandes opened the session with a reflection on the ways race still matters in Boston, on what – besides personal “grit” - resilience to climate change already depends on, and on Barr’s learning about moving beyond a focus on promoting diversity and inclusion to structural change.
Date Posted: March 08, 2013 | Categories: Presentations & Speeches
Topics: climate change, climate justice, equity, smart growth, structural racism -
Finding the “just” in climate change
Posted by Mary Skelton RobertsIn all of its work, Barr is guided by a vision for a vibrant, just, and sustainable world, with hopeful futures for children. In Barr’s climate change portfolio, the applications of “vibrant” and “sustainable” are clear – but articulating how this work is also about creating a more “just” world can be more elusive. To shed some light and to guide us into a deeper conversation on this topic, in January, I invited dr. john a powell to speak with Barr grantees, staff, and other Boston funders. Read on…
Date Posted: February 08, 2013 | Categories: Reports & Case Studies, Presentations & Speeches
Topics: climate change, equity, john powell, race, targeted universalism -
The Rhythm of Our Lives
Posted by Lauren WoodyIn tight financial times, dance and other arts programs are increasingly talked about as nice-to-haves and are being scaled back. But a different conversation is happening in Boston. At an April forum, called “Get a Move On: Unleashing the Power of Dance in Urban Public Schools,” Barr’s Chief of Staff, Ify Mora shared her own story of all that dance has meant to her. To see what she said, read on…
Date Posted: September 06, 2012 | Categories: Presentations & Speeches
Topics: arts, dance, hyde square task force -
On Indigenous Leadership
Posted by Stefan LanferWhat does it take to create a community that meets all the needs of its residents – a place rich in local resources that enhance health and safety, a place that provides people with a strong sense of connection to one another, and a place that celebrates life and hope through civic engagement, arts, and culture? A Barr Fellow takes up these question and talks about how this kind of community is already being created in a Boston neighborhood once described as the “cocaine capital of New England.” In the process, he also challenges nonprofits and foundations from Boston to Haiti to think and act differently if they want to see this kind of thing happen more widely.
Date Posted: July 17, 2012 | Categories: Barr Fellows, Presentations & Speeches
Topics: barr fellows, indigenous leadership, livable communities, long view, racial justice, smart growth -
All Things not Being Equal: Equity, Race, and Metro Boston
Posted by Mary Skelton RobertsWhat is the state of the American dream in Metro Boston? A new report takes a piercing look at how much the answer to that question still depends on race. At a December event at the Harvard Law School, the report, “The State of Equity in Metro Boston” was officially released. It was funded by Barr as part of its Climate portfolio. At the release, Barr Senior Program Officer, Mary Skelton Roberts, might have talked about why. Instead, she shared a story.
Date Posted: January 24, 2012 | Categories: Barr Grantees, Reports & Case Studies, Presentations & Speeches
Topics: boston, climate change, equity, mapc -
The OPPORTUNITY City on a Hill
Posted by Stefan LanferWhat would it take to make Boston the premiere “opportunity city?” Since 2010, the Mayor, the Superintendent, and the City’s major funders have been working to answer that question. They started by agreeing to a set of indicators that describe what success looks like at every stage of the opportunity “pipeline” from birth to college and career. At an event in September at an elementary school in Boston’s South End, the partners issued a first annual report card based on these indicators. Rahn Dorsey, Barr’s Evaluation Director was one of the featured speakers. He talked about promising early results from efforts to completely re-imagine summer school. Then he introduced the only speaker most of those present will actually remember – a 6th grader from Mission Hill.
Date Posted: December 27, 2011 | Categories: Presentations & Speeches
Topics: boston public schools, opportunity agenda, out-of-school time, rahn dorsey, summer learning -
Beyond Silver Bullets, the Levers for Change
Posted by Stefan LanferRisk, failure, silver bullets, systems thinking, and reaching beyond significant change to transformation – opening remarks from Pat Brandes at a breakfast meeting of the Massachusetts Education Innovators at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Date Posted: December 19, 2011 | Categories: Presentations & Speeches
Topics: boston public schools, donella meadows, failure, innovation, leverage points, opportunity agenga, pat brandes, risk, system thinking, tony bryk -
Out of the Debate and into the Making of GREAT Neighborhoods
Posted by Stefan LanferAs public discussions about the science of climate change have grown more confused and more confusing, more politicized and more polarizing, it has been easy to lose sight of some obvious common ground – and of some exciting possible wins for everyone, no matter which side of the debate they have fixed themselves on. At a June summit at the Boston campus of the University of Massachusetts, Barr Deputy Director Melinda Marble, announced the Foundation’s major support for one of these opportunities – a new effort now underway to help communities transform themselves into truly “Great Neighborhoods” – “places where businesses and people thrive, and where getting in a car no longer feels like the only way to get anywhere.”
Date Posted: August 01, 2011 | Categories: Presentations & Speeches
Topics: climate change, equity, great neighborhoods, smart growth, transportation -
When a rising tide doesn’t lift all boats
Posted by Stefan LanferA rising tide lifts all boats, doesn’t it? How about the leaky boats? And what of the boat-less, already weary with treading water?
In public education, many reform strategies take a rising tide approach. Yet over the last few years at Barr and in Boston, we’ve seen how critical it can be to focus on very specific populations. Sometimes the challenges (and the outcomes) for one group of students can get steadily worse, even as the district around them is making progress.
Date Posted: June 14, 2011 | Categories: Presentations & Speeches
Topics: achievement gap, education, ell, opportunity gap, racial justice, research